Deadly Occupants

by Mads Rafferty

I shouldn’t have the money—I should have my family.

“She likes emotionally unstable men! Hello, is no one seeing the problem here?”

“Now under no circumstances are you to get the ick. We need to make it to the third date.”

“I’m emotionally invested for you.”

What is it about men in gray sweatpants?

“She’s amazing once you get to know her. She’s just rough around the edges to strangers.”

“Fair enough. Trust is earned, right?”

“Hurry up and leave so we can talk about you!”

“Cardio and I are not friends,”

I figured I could bless your taste buds with their food.”

“I love it when you blush. It makes your freckles stand out.” “At the rate you’re going I’m going to be permanently blushing.”

“I love small businesses; there’s something to be said about a family-run shop.

Grief is such an odd thing. Until you’ve experienced it, you truly cannot imagine the pain it causes someone. The loss that rips your world apart. The deaths that change who you are at your core.

“You hate it too?” he asks. “The sorries?”

After attending the lectures, I’m now convinced all therapists have just as much baggage as their clients.”

“What’s your favorite genre?” “Romance and dystopian. There’s something to be said about a make-believe world that isn’t too far out of reach.

Xavier grins. “Horror.”

If you make me fall in love with this man and make him a villian i will lose my SHIT

I’m not a religious person but sometimes I tell myself the angels needed her to return. It’s a far easier pill to swallow than the truth of how she died.

“You think I’m a danger to society?” “Absolutely, and I volunteer to take the brunt of the bad luck.”

I don’t have anyone to call.

The loss of my sister and parents opens up like a black hole inside my chest all over again, sucking all the air out of my lungs, as I’m hit with just how alone I am in the world.

Dogs are like children; we don’t have the capacity to take care of it.”

“Evie, you will have a puppy, just not when we’re in college.” “Promise?” Violet clicks her tongue. “Yes, now stop crying.”

“Are we ready to face this bitch now?” “Yes,” I say before I can change my mind.

“I told you, you are a menace to society.”

Her depression dug her a hole she couldn’t climb out of.

Sometimes it feels like I was given the best because they were always going to die when I was young.

As if the short years I had with them had to be packed full of love and laughter. With memories worth cherishing until I grow old and wrinkly.

“But I do know grief and I know that no matter the person or relationship, you are always left with unanswered questions.”

“The what-ifs would drive any sane person mad,”

“Losing my parents was like being violently woken from a dream. All of a sudden, I was plunged into a different reality, one without happiness or light. It felt as if my entire world turned bleak and gray.”

She didn’t allow herself the time to grieve and it claimed her.”

Opening up about my sister to Xavier sliced open the wounds I hadn’t dared peek at. The scars across my heart that I couldn’t face. Although Phoebe helped me glue the pieces back together, I never healed. Not truly.

My mind is hyperfixated on it.

“What now, ghost girls?” Evie groans. “For the love of—please don’t be nicknaming us or the ghost.” “Why not?” She shrugs. “Makes it less scary.”

“Hurry up bitches, we have a ghost hunter to call.”

I’m not sure why women love true crime, but I am one of them. Perhaps it’s because we know that our safety is always at risk and by indulging in true crime, we’re able to work through our deepest fears. Or perhaps female rage is present within all of us, and we just want to scream fuck you to the psychopaths.

Delirium has officially entered the room.

“That’s impossible,” I breathe. Violet’s voice is barely above a whisper. “Coming from the girl who levitated.”